Rome Fugnar Update From Revelstoke

“Hey, I don’t care who you are, or where you came from those things aren’t toys to play with eh!” – Ski Patrol at Revelstoke regarding our rope-ollie antics.

Mother Nature has not exactly been kind to us on this trip; it seems like everywhere we go we are just a little too early for the good snow and we end up riding in a cloud while it’s snowing. Revelstoke was no exception. The massive mountain in the interior of B.C. was our home away from home last season and we were all very anxious to hang out there again. Right off the bat things were going awesome. Rome rep Derek Hale had invited a bunch the Alberta and British Columbia shops to come and hang out in Revelstoke, ride some new product and cruise with the crew. We got to hang and exchange stories with Carl, who is the owner of Society Boardshop and a good friend of the Rome team which was rad. Carl dealt with so much stuff for us last year while we were in town filming it was crazy. Then it was out on the town with Derek, Carl and all of the shop guys. We won’t go into exactly what happened that night in town, but shit got a little crazy involving some dude who swung a longboard at Marius. There may or may not have been some blood spilled over the weird longboard move, but at the end of the night all Rome riders were in bed unscathed.

The next day we all met up at Society and headed to Revelstoke. Although we really didn’t get any good powder, we had a gnarly wolf pack that raged around the mountain all day. We spent the day riding logs, jibbing cat tracks, blasting side hits and spraying one another over and over again. Smiles were on everyone’s faces and I’m pretty sure that all involved won’t soon forget how fun the session was. At the end of the day there was a tailgate session in the parking lot with the local shred shops while Marius, Max, Will, and Justin sessioned a dirt gap hip.

It was around this time that we met a cool local named Dafydd (we called him David or Daffy). This guy was tight. He was ticket checker for the mountain, but when he heard we didn’t get free lift tickets for the day he went out of his way to do whatever he could to make sure we had a good time. From what we can tell, he’s a true snowboarder living in Revelstoke for love of the shred, and if there were more people like him, more concerned with good times, good turns, and good vibes we’d be a lot better off. Dafydd (Daffy) told us a gnarly story about how quick your luck can change on the mountain. Early in the season he had been riding on the mountain with a friend and they were following a riverbed down around last chair. They got a little confused and his friend turned back while Dafydd (Daffy) rode down near what he thought was trail, but really was a snow cat trail. He ended up way out of bounds and fell in a creek. The snow was so deep and he was so wet that he had to ditch his board and his gloves and try to hike back out. At around 10pm he realized he wasn’t going to make it so he curled up in his jacket and made himself shiver until morning to keep from falling asleep. At first light he began trying to crawl back to what he thought was a road. Somewhere around this time he was spotted by a helicopter from the air and rescuers were able to get him. He nearly died on Revelstoke, but he rode with us with more stoke than anyone else we met at the mountain. He kept quoting things from No Correct Way to Max and Yan and especially Marius. It was super cool meeting him.

That night we hung out at Carl’s place, played foosball and watched classic shred films like “The search for Mountain Jim” and of course “Whiskey”. MFR arrived that night fresh off a trip to Chatter Creek with Oakley and from filming with Absinthe. We were all stoked to see her again and spent the rest of the night telling stories about our season so far. It’s kind of weird to film for two years with a crew and see them every day for so long and then to not make a movie for a year, but when you do see everyone again it’s like a big family reunion. It’s one of the best things about the Rome team—everyone is genuinely friends with one another.

The next day the mountain was socked in, so we decided to try to check out some street stuff. We toured around with Carl and some locals but everywhere we looked the snow was pretty rock solid, making morale for the day a little low since it seemed like we weren’t going to get anything done. To liven up the day a little bit I resorted to betting the team dinner that they couldn’t get three shots on three different obstacles. Instantly they sprung into action and we made our way to a playground where we started building a bunch of cool jib features. We built a big step up to a flat roof that became a butter box for the team. Max, Marius, and Yan got super tech on it, while MFR took one of the craziest crashes I’ve seen in a long time. She should have been really hurt but instead somehow lucked out and nothing happened to her but a bit of a bruised ego. Meanwhile, Will built a pretty cool wall/roof ride that went around a tree that he and Max sessioned, and just before dark Marius came through to win the bet by building a crazy gap over a fence which he backside rodeo’d and even back flipped over the team on. Everybody was super stoked, as I had to take them to one of our hangouts from last year, this cool locals’ hangout and sled neck bar “The Great White North”.

Our last day at Revelstoke was again spent cruising the cat tracks and jibbing the mountain in a pack. Once again the peak was really foggy but we found a cool log slide. We ollied some fences (which ski patrol wasn’t to stoked on) and just had a blast riding the groomers together for fun, something that a lot of us don’t really get a chance to do all the time when we are stressing on filming video parts. Some really cool locals hooked us up with food and we made sure to spread the “Fuckin Eh” t-shirts out.

Once again Revelstoke felt like home. Carl and Society took care of us and we were sad to have to leave. We packed the van, said our goodbyes and blasted up the road to Golden where Bjorn met up with us. We’re getting ready to ride Kicking Horse; should be more good times. Check back soon for another update and thanks again to Derek and Carl for all their help in Revelstoke, all of the shop guys that came to ride with us, Dafydd (Daffy) and all the locals that were so warm to us all, Revelstoke Mountain Resort. See you next year!